...Names a Rev. Sister as member of  child trafficking syndicate


Hon Osinachi Nwaka 

The Transition Chairman of Ikwuano LGA  of Abia State, Hon  Osinachi Nwaka on Wednesday revealed that one of three siblings abducted three weeks ago in the LG was sold for peanuts, he refused to name the amount in order not to send the wrong message to would be human traffickers 


He added that two out of the three siblings had since been found, and reunited with their family even as  the boy sold for N1.8m, aged 6 was found in Ekwulobia, Anambra State; While the eldest boy, aged 8 was recovered from Nkpor, near Onitsha.


Hon Nwaka, left and Promise Uzoma 

The Ikwuano Mayor speaking to a team of Online Media Practitioners of Nigeria, OMPAN, Abia State chapter who paid him a courtesy visit at the LG headquarters lamented that a child kidnapping syndicate orchestrated and executed the abduction plot.


He explained that a Reverend Sister who is now in  police net  was a member of the syndicate operating in the State


Hon Nwaka  proffered an insight into the incident which caused an uproar in the LG when it happened on May 13,  2024 when the children between the children were kidnapped on their way back from school. 


"The incident gave me sleepless nights. And within the two weeks we were able to find the two boys, I had sleepless nights and never slept in my house. It was a continuous affair of meetings and more meetings, with parents of the children,  strategy meetings with security officials and other stakeholders


The Ikwuano Mayor expressed deep gratitude to  Abia State Governor Alex Otti, the Abia State Commissioner of Police and heads of security agencies in the State for their resilience  and support in ensuring that the children were safely returned to the State and reunited with their family. He reassured that the remaining boy aged four will soon be found even as he maintained that the  security agencies are  intensifying  their search, using available information within their disposal 


The Mayor who decried the fact  that  child-trafficking cartels running the kidnapping business in Abia State are rapidly penetrating the rural communities in the State. To curb the trend, he solicited the cooperation of OMPAN members and the general public to unravel the masterminds of the illicit trade and to bring them to book for a safer Abia. 


"There are syndicates in every local government that trade on children. It amazes me that a man who  bought one of the first boy paid N1.8m to buy life. 


"So those syndicates pick the children, by charming or bewitching them and move them to the so called motherless babies home, and from there, those agents will come and buy them. 


"They do this for three reasons; either for money rituals, organ harvesting, or for adoption to families that are looking for children."  Nwaka said.


Speaking how they were able to get a breakthrough in the whole saga,  Nwaka said "immediately we got the first person, the rest of the information started leaking out, and to our surprise, we apprehended  a Reverend Sister  among this cartel. 


"The Reverend Sister is the middle person that distributes the children,  collects her cut, and ironically  she was  wearing white and has since remained  in State CID till today", the  Mayor  said. 


He tasked OMPAN to use their platforms to sensitize parents not to leave their children unwatched as well as educate school proprietors of school or school heads on the danger of sending children out from school during school hours due to failure of their parents to meet up with the payment of tuition fees. He warned that such exposes the children  to dangers, including the likelihood of abduction by child traffickers. 


"The least they should do is to call the parents and tell them not to bring the child to school the following day instead of sending the child away. Or they should have a place where you can quarantine them till after school hours when they can come and take them", he  said.


In his response to the remarks by Nwaka,  Chief Promise Uzoma Okoro, the OMPAN  Chairman  assured that as part of OMPAN's watchdog role in  the society, OMPAN is ready to synergize and  partner with the Mayor and the government of  the day to move the State forward. 


"We do not shy away from criticizing the government where necessary, for a better Abia; And we are neither beholden to the government or opposition" the OMPAN leader maintained.